Remembering the Challenger

On Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger and her seven-member crew were lost when a ruptured O-ring in the right solid rocket booster caused an explosion soon after launch. This photograph, taken a few seconds after the accident, shows the space shuttle main engines and solid rocket booster exhaust plumes entwined around a ball of gas from the external tank.

George Abbey, the institute’s Baker Botts Senior Fellow in Space Policy, is the former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Twenty-five years ago, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, he was the director of flight crew operations at Johnson Space Center and was present at the launch. Here are his thoughts on the anniversary:

Today is the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident. Seven brave astronauts sacrificed their lives that day — Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Christa McAuliffe and Greg Jarvis — to make the human spaceflight program a better and safer program for those that followed. Eighty-seven space shuttle flights were successfully flown over the next 17 years after that tragic accident, with the loss of space shuttle Columbia and her gallant crew occurring eight years ago, on Feb. 1, 2003.

Flying in space will always be a challenge and to be done safely requires constant vigilance and attention to detail. Schedule pressure cannot be allowed to be a factor in order to fly safely.

No one remembers the launch day of a successful mission but they do remember the problems that arise on an unsuccessful flight. The upcoming flight of space shuttle Discovery should not be launched until it is ready, regardless of the presently planned date.